Brett Allen (00:19)

Hi, Brett Allen here, host of the Marketing 32 show where I connect with leading dentists, dental influencers, and leading experts in the industry. We talk about the latest and greatest strategies, insights to help you guys grow and thrive in dentistry. This episode, as always, is brought to you by our team here at Marketing 32. We are the only dental marketing team that I know of with a performance guarantee that if you’re not growing, you don’t pay us. We’re truly invested in your growth, and we really only work with those practices that we can.

we know we can have a huge impact for. So if you need help with marketing or growth or any of that, reach out to us at Marketing32. We’ll have a conversation, set you straight. Quick shout out to Ryan Corby of Smile Advantage. Recently had him on. Talked all about memberships and implementing those into your practice. That is an awesome way that you can create recurring monthly revenue for your practice and get off of insurance if that’s in your interest.

Super excited to have a new friend, Anne Duffy on the show today. Anne is the founder and CEO of Dental Entrepreneur Woman. She really doesn’t need an introduction as most of you probably know her. She’s such a big name in the industry. She spent 45 years in dentistry, championing women in leadership. She created DEW, this D-E-W, Life Magazine and Dental Entrepreneur Woman to inspire, empower and connect women.

while helping the next generation discover the many opportunities in dentistry. Her message is just do it. Love that, Ann. Welcome to the show.

Anne Duffy (01:53)

Thank you for having me, Brad. I’m so happy to be here. And yes, you are a new fast friend. So we are going to have a great time today. Appreciate it.

Brett Allen (02:01)

We are. I

really enjoyed meeting you at the Speaking Consulting Network event this past June. That was a lot of fun. A lot of great people in that group. ⁓ And I’m just thrilled that we’re able to do this together.

Anne Duffy (02:14)

and I saw you on center stage and you did a fabulous job speaking. I would say if someone’s listening to this and they’re looking for a phenomenal speaker, they should reach out to you. I was very impressed.

Brett Allen (02:24)

that’s so

kind. Thank you so much, Ann. That’s so kind of you. Well, I want to get into kind of who you are and how you got into dentistry. Let’s talk about and then what you’ve done in your career here. I mean, you’ve really impacted the industry and now with Dew and all of that. So let’s kind of get your story out.

Anne Duffy (02:44)

Well, I would love to tell you my story because there’s a couple of things that could be in my bio that I’m thinking about. I’m actually an accidental entrepreneur, I ⁓ graduated from Ohio State. In fact, I’m very honored. I’m going to share the shout out to Ohio State. They just gave me the Distinction of Dental Hygiene Award Saturday before last, right? So I graduated in 74 from Ohio State. And I was so honored to get

Brett Allen (03:05)

wow.

Anne Duffy (03:12)

you know, recognized from my alum. And so that’s cool. So shout out to OSU. And I married my ⁓ college sweetheart. He went to University of Dayton. I went to Ohio State. I signed a prenup that I would only root for Penn State. end it. After I got that award, I just want all Buckeyes to know that I’m back on the wagon and I didn’t know what I was signing at that time. So I’m a Buckeye fan again.

Brett Allen (03:15)

⁓

Ha ha.

Nice.

Anne Duffy (03:38)

So anyway, we got married and then we moved 10 times. And so I took six state boards. We had three kids and I always practiced, always took a state board. Back in the day, it was two days. It was one clinical and one written. So that was a lot of fun. Landed in Charlotte, North Carolina with three kids and Tom said to me about a year in, goes, know, hey, I’m gonna quit my corporate job and we don’t want to be with the kids anymore. I’m like, that’s great.

I’m excited because I loved being a corporate wife. However, I knew that as an entrepreneur’s wife, I would be a millionaire right away. And that was really cool. And then about a year and a half into the entrepreneurial journey of Tom, I realized that we were like sucking wind. And I’m like, oh, shoot, I got to make more money. So who’s going to teach kids to soccer, dance and basketball? That was me. Tom was traveling. And so I started my first side gig and I got with a company called OxiFresh, which

Brett Allen (04:19)

Mm.

⁓

Anne Duffy (04:38)

you know, it’s kind of dead to me because they don’t pay anybody anymore, but it was a network marketing company and products were great. I mean, I’m, I’m the personality, as you know me a little bit better. I probably would, I’m a good networker. And so I was never interested in Mary Kay or makeup, but I sure was interested in stabilized chlorine dioxide and came on board, ⁓ grew the biggest, the biggest group of female dental professionals in the company.

Brett Allen (04:42)

Okay.

wow.

Anne Duffy (05:05)

And along that journey, I started my own Fresh Press Center within our practice, and that was cool. And then I met a guy on the trade show floor that was schlepping dental entrepreneur business beyond the classroom. And it was a new publication. His full-time professional salesperson didn’t sell anything. And so he met me and he says, you want to come and ⁓ help me get this thing off the ground? I said, sure, I’ll try. And so I actually, we were very successful right at, you know, really right off the bat.

Brett Allen (05:05)

Awesome.

Anne Duffy (05:33)

I sold advertising for him, but he was not a dental professional, so I had no passion for dental. And I think that is the key for anybody that’s doing anything entrepreneurial. You’ve got to have passion for it, right? And so I bought it from him, you know, two, three years in. And so dental entrepreneur, we rebranded five years ago and to dental entrepreneur, the future of dentistry. And I actually have that publication as well. And that has a podcast. So if you’re a podcast listener and you like podcasts, you know, check that one out as well. And then hence nine years ago,

Brett Allen (05:38)

Hmm.

Right.

Awesome.

Anne Duffy (06:03)

My dear friend, I called her on a Thursday afternoon and she was just sitting there crying hysterically when she picked up the phone because her boss had just written in her 360 review that her smile wasn’t sincere and it looked like she was plotting something against the company. And I was like, that’s insane Sue, you’re the most sincere person I know, dang, I’m just going to start another magazine. And oh, by the way, on the back porch that night with a martini in my hand, I decided to call a double entrepreneur woman. And that’s how I got here.

Brett Allen (06:17)

no.

I love it.

Anne Duffy (06:32)

That is how I landed here, nine years into Dental Entrepreneur Women. It’s my dear love and passion to see, to highlight these amazing women in dentistry that are so powerful and caring and smart and, you know, honestly not getting their due. And we’re, you know, we’re just trucking along here, inspiring and empowering women in dentistry celebrating their success. That’s it. That’s it. That’s where I’m Yeah.

Brett Allen (06:45)

Yeah.

Yes. That’s awesome.

I love it. That’s a great story. And I love that the demographics are shifting in dentistry and that women are on the rise. Have we passed more than 50 % of dentists are now women? that? Yeah.

Anne Duffy (07:07)

Oh yeah, oh yeah, you’ll hear anywhere

between 52 % to 60 % graduating female. Yeah, yeah.

Brett Allen (07:12)

Right, that’s what I thought. Yeah, I

love it. I am all for the women power movement. I’ve got four daughters myself and I think it’s great. So, yeah.

Anne Duffy (07:22)

Yeah,

it’s about time, but we have a long way to go. thought we were, actually nine years ago, I thought we were for more long. And even to this day, we’re still finding our footing and our voice. but it’s good. We’re stronger in a community, right? Locking arms. And that’s what DUE presents is a community for women that want more out of life and want more other careers. That was one of the other reasons I started it, one of my…

Brett Allen (07:36)

Yeah. Yeah.

Right.

you

Anne Duffy (07:52)

passions was to show them there is a career path for you in dentistry. Don’t leave the profession because when you get in you’ve got goals and aspirations and you know from the hygiene standpoint a lot of times there’s a ceiling that you’re going to reach but there’s just so many opportunities for us in this industry. ⁓

Brett Allen (07:59)

Yeah.

Yeah.

And even

if I was talking with Laura Brenner, do you know her, Laura? Dental side gigs, she’s great. There’s plenty of opportunity, even if you want to sidestep in dentistry and maybe not be clinical, there’s so much opportunity to be in the industry, even with our team. ⁓ There’s so much in dentistry.

Anne Duffy (08:15)

I love Laura. ⁓ yeah.

He’s awesome.

there

is. There’s so much. And it’s a relationship business. you know, ⁓ who could you refer me to? I mean, that’s the, I think that’s the genius of the dental industry.

Brett Allen (08:37)

Right.

Yeah, yeah. Well, let’s talk about your community. So nine years, what’s it like to be a part of DO? What are the women like in there? How many members do you have? Talk about all of that.

Anne Duffy (08:52)

years.

Well, I think the beautiful part of it, well, first of all, our first retreat, we’re getting ready for our seventh annual retreat. And so I just remember, it’s so funny, the first retreat, I met some dudes, some women dental hygienists that were dents by Serona, and I was like, yeah, I wanna do a retreat someday. then Jasmine Haley goes, when are you gonna do it, Anne? How about right now? Get a date, get a date. I was like, you four women in a van? And I’m getting the date for our very first retreat. And it was like, it took.

Brett Allen (09:08)

7th anniversary.

Anne Duffy (09:29)

that nudge. that I just came out, need, you need friends to like push you a little bit. Like let’s do it. If not now, when right? And so I thought maybe 12 women would show up. had a hundred at the first retreat and we literally have sold out every year. ⁓ the reason being is that principle number three, good dues, find good dues and good people find good people, Brett. And so it’s been word of mouth and organic. So many, so many work alone.

Brett Allen (09:35)

Yeah.

wow.

Hmm.

Totally organic, wow.

Anne Duffy (09:59)

in remote settings, remote, but also if you’re a practicing dentist, that’s also lonely. You know, it’s not like you want to call your competition down the street and complain about how tough it is, or if you’re going to share wins. I mean, all those little things. ⁓ We have just built a community of referrals and coming together. And we have our principles that are all ⁓ based around no scarcity mentality, loving on each other, supporting each other.

Brett Allen (09:59)

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (10:28)

no gossiping, give people the benefit of doubt, know, no judging, all of those things ⁓ that are really good. And we just put a new one in last year, the year before the answers in the ladies room. so, yep, and we love our guys. In fact, Brett, I’m sure I gave you a dude number, lowercase E, capital W, lowercase E, dudes are men.

Brett Allen (10:43)

⁓ I love that.

You did. Yes.

Dude.

Anne Duffy (10:57)

women in dentistry. I don’t know what your number is but you better

Brett Allen (11:00)

Yeah, I think

you gave me 190, I think.

Anne Duffy (11:03)

190, so we’re at 219 now. We have 219 dudes. And I tell everybody either tattoo it on the right, right shoulder or the left shoulder. I don’t care. Put it, you better put that in your phone. Cause I will keep answering you. you know, we can’t, we can’t do without you guys. And we love, you know, I love, well, first of all, everyone says, Dennis, he’s taken over by old white guys. Well, I happen to love old white guys. just, Tom and I celebrated 50 years and he’s an old white guy and he’s awesome.

Brett Allen (11:06)

wow.

⁓ I should. I should. Yes.

wow, congratulations. That’s great.

My parents are celebrating this upcoming summer. So we’ll all get together for that. Yeah.

Anne Duffy (11:32)

Isn’t that so fun to see you could be, I could be your dental mom as well. I love that. And I’ve got

two amazing sons and a daughter, and an amazing daughter. So I love men, but this just happened to be, I don’t know why, it just felt like the time was right because I knew so many different women along those career paths because I knew women in marketing when I took over the magazine, I knew women that had businesses, also the Oxfresh days, know, was like these women in different careers. They never really,

Brett Allen (11:47)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (12:02)

They just never had anything just for them. And all career paths, which is really lovely for do. I’m so glad we instituted that from the beginning because, because my friend Sue still works for a company. So she’s like an entrepreneur. You know, women take on any role, you know, with the women, I met the women that you’re working with and they’re sharp and they take their role. Like they own your company too. And that’s the kind of.

Brett Allen (12:08)

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Sarah’s

amazing. Sarah’s a member of Do, everybody.

Anne Duffy (12:26)

Yes, I love it.

She’s coming to the retreat. think she’s coming to the retreat. Is she coming? And Laura Brenner will be there. There’s so many amazing women. now, ⁓ yeah, my God, this is going to be amazing. So we’re going to have 250 women in Charlotte, all amazing, so many that you won’t know, but you will leave knowing them and having ⁓ women that you can call on. Because I always say when a day is tough and you really need some help, you just call a do. Call them up.

Brett Allen (12:29)

She is, yes, she’s coming next month, she’ll be there.

great, good.

Anne Duffy (12:56)

check it out, you feel a better when you get up. So, you know, we’ve just got…

Brett Allen (12:57)

Yeah, yeah.

So how many of you kind of walk me through the average member of DO, are they hygienists? Is it kind of a big mixed bag of dental women?

Anne Duffy (13:12)

It’s a big mixed bag. I’ll tell you what the parameters are. You have to be a woman and you have to have a toe dipped in dentistry or have had a toe dipped in dentistry at one time. And I do not care what you do in dentistry. This is about women. This is about women. And we have a connection and it could be a past connection. One of my favorite dues ended up hygiene, having her own temp agency. ⁓

Brett Allen (13:22)

Okay. ⁓ interesting. Okay.

some kind of connection to the industry.

Anne Duffy (13:38)

had a big job in a company and then now she was the top interior designer from Havreys. So I mean it doesn’t matter because we’re women and we have the problem. So we will meet you in ⁓ any stage of your career path. ⁓ the goal is just sharing the things that we all

want to know about as women, but also we actually have some a lot of things going in about the business because a lot of women are just thinking about stepping out of the operatory or and of course I would say don’t step out of the operatory fully until you know don’t put your day job because that’s a great it’s just great to have that reference and it’s also great to the income you know maybe to dip your toe into entrepreneurship or dip your toe into a different segment but ⁓ you know it’s hard to go from zero to a hundred as you know.

Brett Allen (14:05)

That’s great.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Anne Duffy (14:34)

as an entrepreneur and owning your own business. It’s hard to go from zero to 100. It is a roller coaster. It is a roller coaster. But yeah, anybody, everybody’s welcome to come sit at our table and, and we’re here for you. Just a few, a few things that you want to have a community of women that’s that are going to connect you and connect you with others. Then just check us out at, you know, do life and move your hand.

Brett Allen (14:37)

It’s a fun ride. It’s a fun roller coaster. Yeah. Yeah.

That’s so

important. think community is such a big thing that all of us need. There’s so many, ⁓ talking with Laura again, Laura Brenner, there’s so many who are struggling alone in the industry, feel like they’re dealing with something that’s only unique to them or ⁓ they’ve invested so much of their life and their career in dentistry, but it doesn’t feel authentic to them and they feel trapped.

And so, yeah, so life is a roller coaster. Don’t do it alone, right? And being in dentistry is not, it’s a roller coaster at times, so don’t do it alone,

Anne Duffy (15:35)

Exactly, and it’s such a great profession and I just absolutely adore Laura Brenner and I think one of the things we’ve talked about and this is funny because Laura and I talked, I don’t want anyone to leave dentistry and I told her that. said I want people to stay in it and she says, you know, sometimes people need to leave dentistry and that is okay. So she turned me around on that. But you also sometimes just need a one degree shift or somebody that shows you, you’re not crazy.

Brett Allen (15:40)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (16:01)

You’re not alone. I’ve had the same thing happen and this is how I got the work around her. This is how I solve that problem. And so sometimes you just need to step back, take a break, take a breather and get back in with a new ⁓ resurgence of love for what you do and the opportunity to care and you might be caring in a different way. So I think that’s, again, you’re not alone if you’re listening to this and you’re like, my God, and there’s…

Brett Allen (16:18)

Mm-hmm.

Anne Duffy (16:29)

Well, first of all, I don’t know about you, but if you’re a true entrepreneur, probably almost once a day, certainly once a week, you might quit. I’m sorry.

Brett Allen (16:39)

man, there’s

so many opportunities and roadblocks and brick walls and yeah. Yeah. yeah. The decision fatigue. Yes. Yeah. Team members and challenges and man, what are we going to do about this new thing? I once heard a good friend of mine, Alex Sharpe, and he was a business coach that we worked with a while back. He said, your business, if you’re doing things right, your business is broken and it always will be.

Anne Duffy (16:44)

Yeah, and decisions, the decisions that we make ⁓ on daily basis. And so, but you know what? Yes.

Brett Allen (17:08)

There’s something, there’s something that’s always, I mean, and I forget who I heard this quote from, but the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. There’s always something. There’s always something.

Anne Duffy (17:17)

Yeah, that’s it. Always something.

But I like to lean into, and I do lean into this, I can drive my team crazy. Progress, not perfection. Because in dentistry, it is a profession of perfection. I mean, look, I mean, well, in my business and publishing and what we do with podcasting and lifting, we’re not actually saving physical lives.

Brett Allen (17:26)

Hmm.

Anne Duffy (17:44)

⁓ In dentistry you are, know, the mind, body, and ⁓ oral systemic connection and all of those things is really important. Yeah, so you are saving lives, but it’s some of the things, you know, it’s okay. It is, it might be broken, but broken we can restore. Broken we can restore, yeah.

Brett Allen (17:50)

The connection, yeah.

Yeah, that’s

right. That’s right. That’s a good way to put it restore. So let’s talk about the retreat coming up next month. The big deal for you, the seventh one.

Anne Duffy (18:10)

the seventh one and we’re gonna have, it’s just so much more bougie this year. were all set up for the last one and ⁓ at the end of the last retreat, the event planner told me, says, Mrs. Duffy, I made a mistake and it’s not available next year on your date. I’m like, okay. So we had to Again, that’s broken. And I was like, you’re so sweet, but this is event planning 101.

Brett Allen (18:12)

What are you guys gonna do there?

⁓ really?

⁓ no.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (18:36)

And we ended up going to the Ballantine Resort Hotel in Charlotte and it’s going to be amazing. Yeah, I hope this doesn’t offend anybody. I had put big girl panties on because this is like, I’m thinking a 12 person retreat and now we’re 250 at the resort. yeah, oh yeah, we’ll have 250. We’re almost there. have about, I think as of this morning, 25 seats left.

Brett Allen (18:42)

wow.

Wow 250 is going

Anne Duffy (19:02)

And so, and we have so many people that say, oh, I’m going to sign up what I have. And so get your sign up gals. You do not want to miss it because there’s somebody there that’s going to help you. There is somebody there and many of people, many women there that will help you in your career. Um, but yeah, it’s going to be great. And it’s all personal professional development. We’re going to try to get CE this year. We can get that in dentistry now. Um, and so we just haven’t worked on that in the past because it’s just my, my goal initially, honestly, Brett was it was about love.

Brett Allen (19:23)

good.

Anne Duffy (19:32)

because I was really hurt for my friend and for women in general. It’s about love. And then leaning into your God-given strengths, because Gallup Strength Finders 2.0 is near and to my heart, changed my life years ago, ⁓ 17 years ago. And so I wanted to bring that to dentistry and that’s what we’re doing. That’s the kind of the two pillars, I think, that really hold up, do, or if you will. And I just think that the community of, there’s the magic in the room.

Brett Allen (19:35)

Yeah.

Mm. Mm.

Mm.

Anne Duffy (20:01)

again the answers in the ladies room and so that’s it but we’ve got speakers we’ve got panels we do a big fashion show at Den Spice Serona shout out to them with their partner of ours as well and we schlep everybody over there to the Den Spice Serona beautiful building in Charlotte and do a fashion show deaf carrier with her twice as nice uniforms and then we always partner with the boutique in town and this year we’re really excited because we’re partnering with Dress for Success and we’re asking everybody to bring

Brett Allen (20:02)

That’s awesome.

It’s.

cool.

Anne Duffy (20:29)

either a suit or something that they have loved, but they don’t wear anymore in a dry clean bag and bring that. There’s a big dress for success in Charlotte and then we just found out they’re looking for purses. Purses is in big demand. So if you’re coming to the retreat, bring a purse you’re not using anymore that’s in good shape and somebody else could really use that. ⁓ And that’s all.

Brett Allen (20:34)

wow.

okay.

Donated, yeah. That’s great. Is

the format, tell me more about the format. it everyone’s in the same room together, big ballroom, or is it the breakout sessions going on, or both?

Anne Duffy (21:03)

Thanks for asking. we do not have breakouts this year. we basically mostly are networking and the breakouts. What we have that all of our sponsors and we sold our sponsors out, golly, two months ago, the sponsors are in the room and then the sponsor to the tables. We have dedicated sponsor time like on Thursday night, big dedicated to the sponsors. And then we have a panel on building community that night with cocktails and all that kind of stuff. But

Brett Allen (21:18)

Okay.

Anne Duffy (21:31)

The women that are manning the booths are leaving the booth and sitting at the tables with all of us. So they are part of the retreat. So everybody that comes is sitting in the table. then what we do is we have a speaker, ⁓ mostly 20 to 30 minutes. Then we have a breakout for 20 and table talk. And then we have 10 minutes for takeaways. So it’s a big room all coming together. then we switch tables. So we switch tables.

Brett Allen (21:37)

great.

Anne Duffy (21:59)

four times throughout the retreat so that you’re not sitting with the same, you know how you, at SEN? I think Ryan might have got that from us. So we’ve been doing that for a long time, but we’re very clear that your job when you get there is to meet everybody that you possibly can and share cards. And then we have a directory that will be filled out. We have a lot of things. I have a retreat committee this year. Sarah Ritchie, Deb Carrier, and Bob Moreno. Yeah.

Brett Allen (22:04)

Yeah, yeah. I like that idea. Yeah.

wow.

That’s great.

Anne Duffy (22:26)

All the other years I kind of just showed up and just prayed a lot before I got there, just showed up and it all worked out they’re coming back again. So yeah, it’s so fun.

Brett Allen (22:33)

That’s great. That’s great.

And I loved it. It sounds like even the sponsors have to be women, right? In the room. are everybody. Yeah.

Anne Duffy (22:39)

Yeah, yeah,

I know the guys really want to come. you know, I don’t know.

Brett Allen (22:44)

Well, I

called you and we were going to sponsor this next retreat, but I think you were also that or whatever. So next year, let us know. We will be on the sponsorship team, but yeah.

Anne Duffy (22:54)

I will so let you know, get you in early because

there’s only room for, I think, 19 sponsors because of the way we’ve got set up. But yes, I would love you to be there and sponsor because everybody needs marketing. mean, you know, that’s when you’re your own business. And, Tony, I just I’m just curious because our listeners are here too, Brett. Like when you when you’re working for ⁓ say, like say something like me, would you be able to do like a couple

Brett Allen (23:07)

That’s right. That’s right.

Mm-hmm.

Anne Duffy (23:21)

like 10 hours a month for the marketing or do you need to be full time? Do you like that kind of a setup? How do you like your setup?

Brett Allen (23:28)

So

we work mostly we have worked with dental related Influencers such as yourself but most of our clients and most of the work that we do are with the practices and the clinics Some of them are DSOs multi-location, but most I’d say 80 % are the solo practitioner may own two two offices But yeah, so we work with kind of a monthly service plan of

Anne Duffy (23:40)

Yeah. Yeah. Well.

Brett Allen (23:57)

what we’ve put together that’s custom for them to achieve the goals that they have. And so it’s just monthly, yeah.

Anne Duffy (24:01)

Yeah, and I

And I love that you, in your initial introduction, if it’s not working, they can go out there or, and that is, that’s beautiful because the data, they really, a lot of times, sign those contracts and never look at them again and have no idea what’s going on. Yeah, no idea what’s on.

Brett Allen (24:09)

Right. Yeah.

man, that’s what I spoke on

when we were together in June. That’s kind of my big push in the industry is to really help people see that there is ethical, there are ethical marketers out there. We’re not the only ones. ⁓ and really bring awareness to if you are working with a marketing company, how should that relationship be? And how do know if it’s working and you really got to be careful. Some of these contracts out there really do trap people and take advantage of people, which gives

gives the industry a bad name for marketers in dentistry. ⁓

Anne Duffy (24:54)

And I really believe that, you really

if you’re you’d be crazy not to just ⁓ use a marketing agency that is actually focused on dentistry because dentistry is very unique. so, you my accounting and things like that, I’m trying to stay within lanes of people that know how to work with an entrepreneur and ⁓ bookkeeping and you we have we have our marketing is internal. ⁓ But everybody needs everybody needs to know

Brett Allen (25:03)

on dentistry. It is. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (25:24)

at what’s working and what’s not working, especially in this day and age.

Brett Allen (25:26)

Well, yeah, and with marketing

and like digital, the competition that’s online, if there’s a lot of nuance into how you run these platforms and the strategies behind them, it’s just works so much better if you hire a specialist that has all of this data behind the efforts and what they’re doing and the strategies they’re recommending. ⁓ It just is so much a better experience. The results are way better and faster ⁓ than working

There’s plenty of good marketers that are not dental specific, but they’re going to have to go through the learning curve of working in dentistry. there’s, so you’re just paying for that time. So yeah.

Anne Duffy (26:07)

Yeah, yeah.

It’s a very unique industry, but it’s a fun industry and we want the amazing people to stay in and we want them to thrive. You know, it’s been a little tough here for, from, you my understanding dental practices, they’re still recovering from a little bit from the pandemic, you know, and, you know, they’re shifting too on their services and, you know, what people want and, and the, you know, please reach out to the experts in ⁓ dentistry to have that done.

Brett Allen (26:12)

Yeah.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (26:37)

of work.

Brett Allen (26:37)

Yeah. Well,

we’re about out of time. I always close with one question. ⁓ If you could help our listeners have one epiphany that would really have a big impact in their lives, ⁓ that ripple effect, what would that one golden nugget be?

Anne Duffy (26:54)

You know, I was thinking about that when you, you you kind of just told me about that right before we started. And through my story, I feel like I have demonstrated that you don’t need to know everything before you say yes and you do it. And again, that’s principle number two, just do it. Because I think sometimes they just, especially women,

Brett Allen (27:06)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (27:16)

They just don’t think they have enough education. They don’t have, they don’t know enough. They, they, they don’t have the skills, all of those things. And you just sometimes have to jump in and say, if not now, when, and if not, if not me, who, because that’s, that’s how you, grow and you’re not going to know it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard somebody say, well, I’m not ready. I’m not ready. When are you going to be ready? Because time is going faster. So I would just say,

Brett Allen (27:30)

Yeah.

Mm.

Anne Duffy (27:45)

Don’t have to know everything. If you have something on your heart that you want to accomplish, just do it and reach out and find your community. There’s a lot of wonderful communities in dentistry. Find your tribe. Find people that will lift you up, that will help you grow, and will keep you accountable.

Brett Allen (27:51)

Yeah.

I love that. I love that. That’s great advice. I’m always at the biggest cheerleader when I hear of people who are starting something and taking that risk and going out and stepping out into it. It’s the game. It’s the game you get to play and you really can’t, know, analysis paralysis. You really can’t plan it all out and have everything buttoned up perfectly. You just got to start and then it starts to come together and you get help and you figure it out what works, what doesn’t work.

Yeah, you, yeah.

Anne Duffy (28:33)

Yeah, and principle

number nine, Brett, and you’ll love this one is start and don’t stop. Do something higher and neither do dudes. OK, so I think that that’s sometimes you start you stop before you really you’re halfway up the hill and you get all the way up there. And then once you’re up there, you’re going to go back down again and then you’re to go up again and down again. And that’s fun if you know that you know that you have that ability.

Brett Allen (28:39)

Yes.

You’re almost there. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Anne Duffy (29:02)

and the resilience and the grit to keep going.

Brett Allen (29:02)

Yeah, I think there’s

something to be said with, ⁓ you know, it took me a while to learn this in business. I wanted everything to be perfect and fixed and working. And there’s just some problems that just need to be managed. There’s going to be things that you just have to manage and create a process around and you just manage that challenge constantly. There are some challenges that you cannot completely fix. It’s just part of the game and you got to figure it

Anne Duffy (29:25)

Yeah.

Brett Allen (29:32)

out how to play the game with that.

Anne Duffy (29:34)

Yeah, exactly. And that would mean that you could change

people. The only people you can change is yourself. At ⁓ least I’ve heard that. I’ve tried to change myself. Yeah, exactly.

Brett Allen (29:39)

Yeah, right. Yeah, a lot of our challenges are people. Yeah.

Well, this has been so fun and great conversation. Where should we send people if they want to learn more about DOOS? Should we send them to the website? Is that best? And if they want to contact you, reach out to you on the website.

Anne Duffy (29:55)

That’s the best thing, that’s best thing.

Oh yes, of course, it’s D-E-W dot life, L-I-F-E, not dot com, do dot life. And I’m on LinkedIn and Instagram and follow us on DoLifeMag or Dental Entrepreneur. If you’re a dude and you want to know the future of dentistry, follow us and reach out to me. I’d love to meet you and love to get on, I love getting on a call with somebody for like 15, usually it’s 30 minutes.

Brett Allen (30:10)

Okay.

Anne Duffy (30:23)

⁓ because I can’t hang up, but just to get to know you and see who I could connect them with and how I can help. Yeah.

Brett Allen (30:26)

Ha

That’s

great. We’ll put all of that in the show notes so if you’re driving or whatever, we’ve got it on our website. You can find the episode and get those links and everything. And thank you again. This has been wonderful. Thank you for your time and for your insights into what you’re doing and all the good that you’re doing. Thank you.

Anne Duffy (30:46)

Thank you, Brett. I love being here. Take care.

Brett Allen (30:49)

Alright

everybody until next time on the marking 32 show have a great day. Take care.